[Ncsg-discuss] GoDaddy to offer domain blocking to people who don=?Windows-1252?Q?=92t_?=have trademarks

[Christabel Mebaghandu]

Happy New Year, Kathy. Thank you for raising this for discussion.
The article suggests that this service is being introduced through contractual amendments rather than via a PDP, raising concerns about whether policy outcomes are effectively being shaped through implementation pathways that... may bypass consensus. It also prompts questions about the longer-term implications should similar models be adopted or replicated by other registry operators.
I am aware of traditional blocking services, such as GlobalBlock, which are explicitly tied to verified trademark rights. In that context, an additional concern is how this proposed service would interact with, complement, or potentially duplicate existing rights protection mechanisms available to actual trademark holders. There is a need for clarity on whether trademark owners would be expected to engage with this new service in addition to existing protections, or whether they would retain priority treatment, differentiated access, or cost considerations that appropriately reflect their established legal rights.
The proposal also notes that third parties may be able to request unblocking; however, the mechanisms for doing so are not clearly articulated. I could not find any detail on applicable criteria, appeal processes, timelines, or whether any independent or neutral review would be involved; raising due process concerns.
More broadly, allowing existing domain registrants without verified rights to block identical strings across multiple TLDs could result in de facto exclusivity in the absence of a rights-validation framework. This risks enabling string capture based primarily on first-mover advantage rather than legitimate interest.
Taken together, these issues raise broader concerns ranging from how we arrived at these amendments, to questions of due process and, ultimately, trust in the DNS. If strings can be broadly blocked without rights verification, access to domain names for non-commercial, critical, or expressive uses could be unfairly limited. From a Human Rights perspective,  civil society actors, small organizations, or other variations of small end users may be disproportionately affected, especially in situations where string meaning is contextual or generic (for example, greenearth.com operated by a commercial entity versus greenearth.org used by an environmental NGO). These issues would benefit from closer scrutiny.
Kind regards,

Mebaghandu Christabel, mIEEE sMNCS fNSIG .

Chief Technology Officer

Civil Center for Peace, Justice and Development

+23408161278131

meb.christabel at ccpjd.org<mailto:meb.christabel at ccpjd.org>

www.ccpjd.org<https://www.ccpjd.org/>

________________________________
From: NCSG-Discuss <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> on behalf of Kathy Kleiman <kathy at DNRC.TECH>
Sent: 08 January 2026 23:57
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Subject: GoDaddy to offer domain blocking to people who don’t have trademarks


Dear All,

Happy New Year!  I hope 2026 is a wonderful one for you, your families, and our NCSG.

I share the following news as something we should know about and discuss.

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GoDaddy to offer domain blocking to people who don’t have trademarks

GoDaddy’s registry arm wants to offer registrants the ability to block others from registering their brands in other TLDs, even if they don’t own a registered trademark.

<https://domainincite.com/31454-godaddy-to-offer-domain-blocking-to-people-who-dont-have-trademarks>

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Best, Kathy
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